Greater East St. Louis Community Fund awards 24 scholarships

 

From Illinois Business Journal news services

EAST ST. LOUIS – The Greater East St. Louis Community Fund has awarded 24 scholarships to East St. Louis residents to pay for their college education. Students received scholarships, ranging from $1,000-$4,000, each year for four years.

The requirements are that students remain enrolled full time in college and maintain a minimum 2.5 grade-point average or higher.

Students were honored this summer during a ceremony in U.S. District Court. Magistrate Donald Wilkerson, an East St. Louis native and the first African-American appointed to the bench in the Southern District of Illinois, spoke to the group.

The Greater East St. Louis Scholarship Fund has helped finance college educations for students who attend colleges and universities all over the country, Pamela Coaxum, executive director, said.

“Some schools attended by scholarship recipients include historically black colleges such as Talladega, Howard University, Spelman College and Lincoln University. Our scholarship winners have also attended area schools such as the University of Illinois, Indiana State, University of Missouri, SIUE, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Northern Illinois University and even as far away as Duke University in North Carolina and Berkley in Boston.”

The Scholarship Program awards higher scholarships as students move through college.

“We also encourage students to come and give back to East St. Louis after college graduation and encourage others to do the same,” Coaxum said. Some fields of study that scholarship recipients will major in include: finance, business administration, food science, arts and chemical engineering.

Here are 2015 – 2016 new scholarship recipients:

Brandy Brown, Howard University
Brian Brown, Howard University
Morgan Brown, Southern Illinois University: Edwardsville
Nikyra Cook, Harris Stowe State University
Jada Cooper, Lincoln University
Amari Fennoy, Spelman College
Janel Handy, Indiana State
Lynette James, Lindenwood University: Belleville
Marcia Jones, Jackson State
Jessica Lidell, University of Arkansas: Pine Bluff
Kymyenna Mitchell, University of Arkansas: Pine Bluff
Kaleb Simmons, Western Illinois

Returning scholarship recipients for 2015-2016:

Danielle Cash, Spelman College, sophomore
Ambriell Dunlap, Tennessee State University, sophomore
Morgan Farrell, Indiana State University, Junior
Starr’retice Gibson, University of Illinois, sophomore
Alex Hopkins, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, senior
Angelica Howard, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, sophomore
Cayci Lewis, Alabama A & M University, sophomore
Kayla Loveless, University of Missouri, senior
Kamia Suggs, McKendree University, sophomore
Aza Walker, University of Illinois, sophomore
Kendra Walker, Lindenwood University, graduate student
James Washington, University of Illinois, sophomore